Wire receiving and storing means

ABSTRACT

Wire to be wound and stored is drawn through a tube by the viscous drag of a flowing gas. The wire then is passed over a cone and an air stream having an angular component relative to the cone axis causes the wire to rotate over the cone surface. A storage container having an annular chamber is disposed adjacent the wide end of the cone, with the annular opening communicating with the wide end of the cone so that wire is deposited into and wound within the annular chamber.

[15] 3,656,701 [451 Apr. 18, 1972 United States Patent Dibrell wu mm m S m D n G m m w m s m M Rm E mm wMm m 3,204,940 9/1965 Morgan 1: 2,929,576 3/1960 d w .B" PT 26 66 99 NH 09 l 87 07 ,9, 90 57 33 [73] Assignee: Mierowire Corporation, Allentown, Pa.

[22] Filed: 7 July 6, 1970 [211 App]. No.: 52,594

Primary ExaminerStanley N. Gilreath Assistant Examiner-Milton Gerstein Attorney-Ostrolenk, Faber, Gerb & Soffen ABSTRACT Wire to be wound and stored is drawn through a tube by the viscous drag of a flowing gas. The wire then is passed over a [52] U.S.Cl.......................................242/83,28/2l,242/47, 242/82 cone and an air stream having an angular component relative to the cone axis causes the wire to rotate over the cone surface. A storage container having an annular chamber is disposed adjacent the wide end of the cone, with the annular [58] FieldoiSearch.................

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS opening communicating with the wide endof the cone so that wire is deposited into and wound within the annular chamber.

Rover et al. 9 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 18 I972 3,656, 701 saw 1 BF 2 1 WIRE RECEIVING AND STORING MEANS BACKGROUND-OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a receiving means for receiving elongated wire, and more particularly relates to a novel method and apparatus for spooling extremely thin wire or filaments after its production without applying substantial stresses .to the filament.

- Many systems are known for reeling and storing the product, for example, of a wire extrusion system. Conventionally, the reel will be positively driven at a suitable angular velocity, matched to the velocity of extrusion of the wire. Conventional tension control apparatus may also be provided to assure sufficient tension on the wire to assure regular winding on the reel and a uniform drawing stress in the wire.

Known reeling systems are unsatisfactory for many applications, however, particularly those in which the filament to be reeled is very thin and wherein small changes in reeling tension and small absolute values of tension can cause breakage or significant stresses in the wire. For example, in the hydrostatic extrusion of aluminum wire having a diameter of 0.001 inches, tension forces of just a few grams can break the wire. Thus, while constant and low tension forces can be applied to such wire through the use of dancer arrangements, small variations in extrusion speed, start-up of the extrusion, and the like will introduce non-uniform drawing stresses in such wire and can cause its breakage.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the invention, wire or other elongated filaments are drawn through a tube by the essentially constant viscous drag of a flowing gas, then are passed over a conical surface and aresimultaneously rotated around the axis of the conical surface. The wire issuing from the bottom of the cone is then coiled into an annular storage chamber. The means for rotating the wire around the axis of the conical or other guide surface can be an off-axis air or gas stream, so that it is possible, with'the present invention, to coil and store wire after extrusion without applying drawing stresses to the wire. Thus, extremely thin wire, issuing from an extrusion process, can be simply coiled, layer on top of layer, in a suitable chamber without regard to changes in extrusion velocity at the extruder.

Another important advantage of the invention is that it eliminates dealing with the large inertia forces of a rotating reel. Thus, when any type of elongated material is wound, complex brakes and clutches and controls therefor are conventionally needed. With the present invention, the only inertia is that due to the mass of the unsupported filament length.

In accordance with the invention, and where the final product is to be dispensed in reel fashion, the filament can initially be discharged from the extruder and into the spooling means of the invention without regard to variations in extrusion rate. Thereafter, the spools can be unloaded into appropriate reels under any desired control conditions and independently of conditions imposed by the inertia of a supply reel.

It will be apparent that while the invention has important applications to the coiling and storage of thin filaments, that it is generally applicable to the coiling and storage of all elongated, flexible materials.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to coil and store moving filaments without applying significant longitudinal tension to the wire, and particularly without encountering the problems of variable tension which commonly result from adjusting the speed of a reel (having significant inertia) to changes in extrusion speed.

Another object of this invention is to provide a coiling and.

storage method and apparatus for coiling and storing elongated filaments in which handling of the wire is accomplished by fluid flow forces.

LII

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel method and apparatus for loosely spooling elongated filaments into a receptacle in a controlled fashion and without tangling.

Yet another object of this invention is toproduce a novel method for ultimatelyreeling materials fonned by an extrusion process, but independently of conditions imposed by the inertia of the main common supply reel used as a receiver in conventional wire extrusion or drawing operations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the coiling apparatus and receptacle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 taken across section line 2-2'in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 taken across section line 3-3 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspectiveview of the apparatus of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, there is shown a receptacle 10 for receiving a coil of material and which replaces the conventional reel of the prior art. Receptacle 10 is formed of an outer shell or wall 11 and inner shell or wall 12 which are radially spaced to form an annular chamber 13 for storing a coiled filament. Chamber 13 has a bottom 14 (FIG. 1) which can be integral with walls 11 and 12, or which could be a separate member suitably joined to separate walls 11 and 12. Walls 11 and 12 and base 14 may be of any desired material. For example, wall 11 may be of glass or lucite or some other transparent material which permits observation of the contents of chamber 13. The remainder of the receptacle 10 or the entire aluminum wire having a diameter of 0.00l inches, assuming a packing factor of about 0.5.

Receptacle 10 is removably clamped to a support body 20 (FIG. I) by a suitable bolt 21 which is threadably received in a tapped opening in plate 22 (FIGS. 1 and 4). Plate 22 has a flange 23 which overlies flange 24 (FIG. 1) of receptacle base 14. To load and unload receptacle 10 on support 20, bolt 21 is removed and the support 20, which may be movable, is separated from support 22 and receptacle 10 can be removed therefrom.

Support 22 is adapted to carry a motor 30 which has an output shaft 31 carrying fan blades 32. Motor 30 may be a DC motor, with the motor leads (not shown) passing through supports 20 and 22 to asuitable motor control circuit which can energize and control the speed of motor 30. A plurality of openings, such as openings 40 to 44, pass through support 22 It will be later seen that fan 32 and motor 30 could be replaced by other sources of pressure, including gaseous and liquid pressure sources which, ultimately, will apply a rotational force to rotate wire being spooled into receptacle 10.

A plurality of support posts, such as posts 50 to 53, extend from support 22 and are appropriately secured to the interior surface of a conical shell 54. Conical shell 54 may be of aluminum having a highly polished outer surface and a wall thickness, for example, of about one-eighth inch. The large end of cone 54 is disposed immediately adjacent the top of chamber 13 and extends over the top of chamber 13 for about two-thirds of its width. The top of cone 54 is truncated and has an internal diameter opening of about one-fourth inch.

The top of cone 54 is covered by a cone cap 60 which is supported from conical shell 54 by spider arms, such as arms 61, 62 and 63. Cone cap 60 may be of aluminum and may have a length of about 1 inch and a lower diameter of about threefourth inch. The interior surface of cone 60 may be spaced from the exterior surface of cone 54 at the top thereof by about one-eighth to one-fourth inch. The interior surface of cone 60 is fluted with off-axis ridges 60a (FIG. 1) extending around the periphery of its interior surface. Thus, air passing into the interior surfaces of cone 60 will be redirected rearwardly with an off axis, or rotational component.

The upper structure of the present invention consists of a stationarily mounted wire-receiving chamber 70 having an opening 71 through which passes the wire 72 extruded from wire extruder 73 (FIG. 1). Preferably, opening 71 will have a diameter about twice the diameter of the wire being extruded, and is used to retard upward flow of air from the chamber. The chamber 70, having a suitable connection nipple 75, is connected to an appropriate gas pressure source 76. Opening 74, at the top of capillary member 80, normally will be to times the diameter of the wire to be received, its diameter being determined principally by the requirement to provide a downward flow of gas from chamber 70 through the tube at a velocity which is high in relationship to the maximum anticipated speed of wire extrusion. v

Capillary member 80, having an outwardly flared bottom section to form a venturi chamber, then extends from member 70 and surrounds wire 72. The annular discharge region between cones 54 and 60 is within this venturi chamber.

The operation of the system is as follows:

Wire 72 from extruder 73 is threaded through opening 71, capillary 80, over the outer surface of cone 60, over the outer surface of cone 54, and into chamber 13. The end of wire 72 may, if necessary, be anchored at the bottom of chamber 13.

Gas flow is introduced into chamber 70 from source 76, and

motor 30 is energized to begin to rotate fan blades 32 and pressurize the interior of cone 54. Gas from source 76 then flows down capillary 80, where the inside diameter of capillary 80 is from 10 to 15 times the diameter of wire 72. In the case of the spooling of wire 72 which in one application will be l mil aluminum wire, the capillary length is long enough to establish a viscous drag from the gas of source 76 on wire 72 in the capillary 80 of about 1 gram. In case of 0.001 inch wire, gas flow rate would be of the order of about 100 feet per second. This force then assures the positive movement of wire through opening 71 and toward receptacle 10.

The gas (such as air) within cone 54 flows into the interior of cone 60 and issues through the annular gap between the interior of cone 60 and the exterior of cone 54. The flutes 60a in the cone 60 cause this air to have an angular velocity com ponent as it issues through the said annular gap. Therefore, the portion of wire 72 passing this annular gap is subjected to an angular viscous drag and, therefore, tends to rotate around the surface of cone 54. Accordingly, wire 72 will spool or wind itself into annular chamber 13.

Note that the pressure inside cone 54 will be appropriately controlled to cause wire 72 to rotate around the surface of cone 54 at an angular velocity appropriately related to the speed of extrusion of wire 72. For 0.001 inch aluminum wire, the flow rate is adjusted so that total air flow over cone 54 is at a rate, typically, of 30 to 50 feet per second with an angular component of 5l0.

When the extrusion is completed, the free end of the wire 72 is ultimately spooled into chamber 13. When the wire in .chamber 13 is to be recovered and reeled, the free end can be picked up with a standard vacuum tool and microscope, and the wire placed onreels with a well controlled reeling process which is independent of parameters otherwise imposed by the inertia of a conventional supply reel.

It will be seen from the above that very fine wire is easily spooled without application of varying reeling stresses to the wire. Moreover, there are virtually no inertial forces due to various extruder speeds including the abrupt changes in velocity during start-up of the extrusion process. Moreover, appropriate spooling can be easily controlled by adjustment of the pressure at the annular discharge orifice between cones 54 and 60.

Although this invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments, it should be understood that many variations and modifications will now be obvious to those skilled in the art and, therefore, the scope of this invention is to be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A filament spooling apparatus comprising, in combination:

a filament receptacle within which an elongated filament is to be spooled around the axis of said receptacle, said receptacle having an open input end;

a guide member having an outer elongated guide surface having a circular cross section defined about a central axis and having a discharge end adjacent the said open input end of said receptacle, and having an input end portion;

a source of filament to be spooled disposed on the side of said guide surface which contains said input end portion of said guide surface, said guide surface directing filament from said source of filament from said input end portion, over said guide surface and toward said open input end of said receptacle;

and means for generating a fluid stream having at least a component which flows angularly across at least a portion of said guide surface, whereby a viscous force is applied to filament passing over said surface and through said fluid stream which tends to rotate filament around the axis of said surface, thereby to spool filament into said receptacle.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 which further includes capillary tube means for receiving filament; said capillary tube means being disposed between said source of filament and said input end portion of said guide surface; and second means for generating a fluid stream; said second means connected to one end of said capillary tube for generating a flow of fluid along the axis of said capillary tube and toward said guide surface, thereby to establish a viscous force for positively leading filament toward said guide surface and said receptacle.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said guide surface is a hollow cone.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 which further includes capillary tube means for receiving filament; said capillary tube means being disposed between said source of filament and said cone; and second means for generating a fluid stream connected to one end of said capillary tube for generating a flow of fluid 1 along the axis of said capillary tube and toward said guide surface, thereby to establish a viscous force for positively leading filament toward said guide surface and said receptacle.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said means for generating a fluid stream includes a hollow conical cap disposed adjacent and atop the apex of said cone and telescoping thereon; said hollow cone being truncated to define a gas discharge opening for said means for generating a fluid stream; the interior of said hollow conical cap defining a deflection path to fluid discharged from the interior of said cone to redirect fluid over the outer surface of said cone; and deflection means for imparting an angular deflection to fluid issuing over the surface of said cone. 1

6. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said means for generating a fluid stream includes a hollow conical cap disposed adjacent and atop the apex of said cone and telescoping thereon; said hollow cone being truncated to define a gas discharge opening for said means for generating a fluid stream; the interior of said hollow conical cap defining a deflection path to fluid discharged from the interior of said cone to redirect fluid over the outer surface of said cone; and deflection means for imparting and angular deflection to fluid issuing over the surrotating reels or the like. Finally, the system is unaffected by face of said cone.

. l0l032 023l 7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said deflection means comprises flute means on the interior surface of said hollow conical cap.

8. The process of spooling an elongated filament into a receptacle comprising the steps of moving said filament through an elongated tube and passing a fluid through said tube in the direction of its movement to apply a positive forward force thereto; moving said filament over a smooth conical surface and directing a fluid stream at an angle to said filament thereby to apply a force to said filament which tends to rotate said filament about said conical surface and spooling the rotating filament into a receptacle as it issues from the end of said conical surface.

9. The process of extruding and reeling a thin elongated filament of low strength comprising the steps of extruding said filament, spooling said elongated filament as it is extruded by moving said filament through an elongated tube and passing a fluid through said tube in the direction of its movement to apply a positive forward force thereto; moving said filament over a smooth conical surface and directing a fluid stream at an angle to said filament, thereby to apply a force to said filament which tends to rotate said filament about said conical surface and spooling the rotating filament into a receptacle as it issues from the end of said conical surface; and thereafter removing said filament from said receptacle and winding said filament on a reel with a given reeling force.

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2. The apparatus of claim 1 which further includes capillary tube means for receiving filament; said capillary tube means being disposed between said source of filament and said input end portion of said guide surface; and second means for generating a fluid stream; said second means connected to one end of said capillary tube for generating a flow of fluid along the axis of said capillary tube and toward said guide surface, thereby to establish a viscous force for positively leading filament toward said guide surface and said receptacle.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said guide surface is a hollow cone.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3 which further includes capillary tube means for receiving filament; said capillary tube means being disposed between said source of filament and said cone; and second means for generating a fluid stream connected to one end of said capillary tube for generating a flow of fluid along the axis of said capillary tube and toward said guide surface, thereby to establish a viscous force for positively leading filament toward said guide surface and said receptacle.
 5. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said means for generating a fluid stream includes a hollow conical cap disposed adjacent and atop the apex of said cone and telescoping thereon; said hollow cone being truncated to define a gas discharge opening for said means for generating a fluid stream; the interior of said hollow conical cap defining a deflection path to fluid discharged from the interior of said cone to redirect fluid over the outer surface of said cone; and deflection means for imparting an angular deflection to fluid issuing over the surface of said cone.
 6. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said means for generating a fluid stream includes a hollow conical cap disposed adjacent and atop the apex of said cone and telescoping thereon; said hollow cone being truncated to define a gas discharge opening for said means for generating a fluid stream; the interior of said hollow conical cap defining a deflection path to fluid discharged from the interior of said cone to redirect fluid over the outer surface of said cone; and deflection means for imparting and angular deflection to fluid issuing over the surface of said cone.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said deflection means comprises flute means on the interior surface of said hollow conical cap.
 8. The process of spooling an elongated filament into a receptacle comprising the steps of moving said filament through an elongated tube and passing a fluid through said tube in the direction of its movement to apply a positive forward force thereto; moving said filament over a smooth conical surface and directing a fluid stream at an angle to said filament thereby to apply a force to said filament which tends to rotate said filament about said conical surface and spooling the rotating filament into a receptacle as it issues from the end of said conical surface.
 9. The process of extruding and reeling a thin elongated filament of low strength comprising the steps of extruding said filament, spooling said elongated filament as it is extruded by moving said filament through an elongated tube and passing a fluid through said tube in the direction of its movement to apply a positive forward force thereto; moving said filament over a smooth conical surface and directing a fluid stream at an angle to said filament, thereby to apply a force to said filament which tends to rotate said filament about said conical surface and spooling the rotating filament into a receptacle as it issues from the end of said conical surface; and thereafter removing said filament from said receptacle and winding said filament on a reel with a given reeling force. 